‘Fifty Shades of Black’ Movie Review

Around this time last year, we gave you the rundown about one of the most anticipated movies of the year,Fifty Shades of Grey. Well, consider this the review of the not-so-sequel Fifty Shades of Black, as it made its theater debut this past weekend!

The parody was written by and stars Marlon Wayans as Christian Black, alongside Kali Hawk as Hannah Steele. Wayans, known for his more risque comedic style, definitely took a no-holds-barred approach to this film. It was quite reminiscent of his performance in his previous spoof, A Haunted House (2013).

Now, just like Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades of Black was definitely a film for an acquired taste and audience—but this time around, we aren’t talking about the sexually deprived housewife or the low-key sexual deviant looking to the big screen to witness their inner fantasies come alive. Between the plethora of penis jokes, the frequent use of the “N word,” and Florence Henderson (aka Carol Brady) taking on the role of a Dominant (as his “teacher”) during one of Black’s first sexual encounters as a teen, the film proved to have shock value—but ultimately lacked in true humor.

To call it basic, overrated, or poorly executed may or may not be accurate, but to say it wasn’t Wayans’ best work is spot on. On one hand, the spoof accurately depicts the timeline laid out by its more seriously toned counterpart; however, to call the film humorous is a reach. Scenes ranged from overexaggerated “we get it already” moments, to overly sexualized scenes that kind of made you want to look away (there’s only so long you can focus on male genitalia that measure out to be 3-ft long), to sheer uninterest.

Now to say that the film was predictable is in fact untrue. The momentary reference made to last year’s Magic Mike XXL was definitely a crowd pleaser—until yet another penis made its debut onto the screen, but this time in a rather miniature package. It also did a fabulous job at making us remember everything we’ll never forget from 2015:

When Kim K broke the internet

And things like “Got’em” and “eating booty like groceries.”

Across the board, it’s clear that Fifty Shades of Black was not something anyone would have expected, but it is here, and much like its parallel, it’s still “fifty shades of f*cked up.”

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